Cruising

Fenders for Tenders

Inflatable dinghies are rough and tough, but their skin is thin. If your rubber duck leads a hard life, adding some protective padding in key spots will reduce chafe and help prevent the little boat from developing an odd list when least expected. Fenders don’t have to be purpose-made or expensive to be effective. The bow on this cruiser’s tender evidently suffers a lot of abuse. Instead of heading to West marine, he made it a colorful bow fender from a discarded fishing net found ashore.